A fourth straight loss would mean time for massive changes for many teams across college football, but for Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell, he has never been prouder.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know if there’s ever been a point in our program that I’ve been this proud of our football program,” Campbell said.

The Cyclones lost a heartbreaker to Texas in Austin by a score of 24-21, and the game once again ended in controversy. Hunter Dekkers took a hard hit that caused him to fumble, and it caused an uproar from the Iowa State sideline.

The officiating crew went to the monitor with fans awaiting either a targeting call or a ruling that Dekkers’ knee hit the ground prior to the fumble.

Neither were called, and the Texas Longhorns were able to secure the matchup.

When asked after the game what explanation he received for the call, Campbell said he was mostly left in the dark.

“Nobody knows, and that’s the problem,” Campbell said. “I’m sure it’s like anything else, we’ll get no clarification.”

There were a lot of questions surrounding the Cyclone offense heading into this game, but Hunter Dekkers looked a bit more comfortable passing than he had in the previous couple of weeks.

Dekkers recorded 329 passing yards, three total touchdowns and an interception.

Going into the game, the Iowa State receivers knew that Texas was going to run a lot of man coverage. The Longhorn staff trusts its players to go out and make plays when needed.

Wide receiver Jaylin Noel felt that the Cyclones had success against the Longhorn secondary; however, a few miscues kept the offense to just 21 points.

“We knew coming into the game they wanted to play a lot of man, and we felt like our guys were better than their guys, and I felt like we showed it,” Noel said.

Sitting at the bottom of the Big 12, Iowa State is not in a good position moving forward. Defensive lineman MJ Anderson said that moving forward, he hopes that fans will be able to see the improvement that the team is making.

“At the end of the day, you’re going to see the process,” Anderson said.

Late in the game, Xavier Hutchinson dropped a deep pass downfield, which would have put the Cyclones in range for a short field goal to tie the game or a score to win it. No one was harder on Hutchinson than himself, saying that the team would have won the game if he made the catch.

“If I would have got to my back, that’s probably a catch, and like I said before, we probably win the game,” Hutchinson said.

Despite the drop, Hutchinson still finished with 10 catches and 154 yards.